


in eve of destruction

by abeyance



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M, Feelings, Heartbreak, Heavy Angst, Love, Pre-Battle, Season/Series 08, Speculation, alot of them - Freeform, but they still love eachother, of a sort, prepare your heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-25
Updated: 2019-04-25
Packaged: 2020-01-31 12:46:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18591550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abeyance/pseuds/abeyance
Summary: A speculated scene taken from the trailer - "The dead are already here."Jon presses for Dany's understanding and forgiveness on the cliff moments before the Army of the Dead arrives.





	in eve of destruction

**Author's Note:**

> I got an idea of what Dany is going to say based on her tone we hear, and couldn't let it go. un-betaed, written in under an hour. enjoy your heart's destruction.

Their short march was quiet and rehearsed; choreographed days before, after yet another ride on Rhaegal that was solid enough to let them grasp on the idea of Jon riding him into battle. The foreign words of war were something Dany spoke to him back on the boat - before this whole mess was a grim, promising reminder looming over them, weighting down their dread to come close to White Harbour. He was fascinated with her knowledge of languages, her mouth’s beauty as it shaped to speak her mother tongue. She had taught him the common phrases that most carried with them - as well as the words she would stumble into during her dazes of pleasure - but what has now deemed most important; the words that came with being the Mother of Dragons.

_ Dracarys,  _ her voice tingled in his mind.  _ Fire. and Sōves to fly.  _

The sweet conversion had unknowingly become part of something that would likely save many. 

_ If able,  _ she had said after that thrilling ride _ , With this possibility, I need you to know. Commands can be no more than words. You have to feel it. And that's when the dragon listens. _

The once innocent teachings...no more than a curious pass of information...it now ran feral through his mind. There was no such time for questions at this point - and the new tension did nothing to encourage him to ask, anyway. No time, no words. Just think, just repeat.  _ Dracarys. Sōves. Feel, feel, feel. _

The dragons were ready past the lines of men, responding to their mothers call. Jon mounted Rhaegal a little easier, both still baring the feel of each other. His mind still twinged with the truth of why he was really capable of riding the creature. Drogon led the flight high, and the sound of nothing but the crunching of the crisp snow hallowing Jon’s memory. He knew her well enough to know that the silence was not just avoidance - it was the wheels in her head, running twice as many questions as he had himself for those moments and hours and days after. 

They only flew for the vantage point, both keeping an eye on the correct positions of all the men before settling onto the cliff overlooking it all. Dany was quick with her scouting and landing; graceful and quick with experience and building anxiety-filled adrenaline, Jon thought. He landed Rhaegal a good distance away from the edge, avoiding any possibility of the wind gusting from the winds to lose the queen before the dead even marched. 

He kept seated on the dragon for a few anointed seconds, letting himself look at her before his feet hit the ground - the thought of her stance changing from anything than that moment at the sound of his approach in mind.

She was one with the North, Jon realized. She would be a great ruler of it, just by her appearance. Everything of her was white, even winter than the snow itself at some points. As if her beauty wasn’t amplified by the aesthetic of Dragonstone, or even Kingslanding, the North appeased to her light features most of all. 

The seven kingdoms even agreed with her rule itself. The world adjusted around her, to make her look the part where ever she cast her settlement. Something no one but a true ruler was able to do.

A true ruler.

_ The  _ true ruler.

He made sure to secure the image of her standing at the edge of the cliff, the light of torch fire traveling up to the edge of her stance, gleaming the white of her coat and hair into its orange tone in his mind before taking his last deep breath. And then he walked up to her, joining at her side mocking the pair they had turned into being. It was different now.

“I don't want it to be like this,” he said after a moment of scanning the bannermen below. He hardly heard her breathing since he came to her; barely even puffs of her air that lingered in front. “I knew I couldn’t go into this without telling you. But I don't want to go into it like this either.”

He waited for her response. All he got was a more prominent inhale than before. He had no choice but to continue; it wasn’t always that he knew what exactly he wanted to say.

“And I didn't know, either. I promise. Everything was real. I’ve never lied to you. Not ever. And I still am not when I tell you I don't want the Throne.”

“Your people do not like me already.” The hard truth of the words kicked his relief of her voice in the guts. “They will never follow me once knowing I'm not the true heir.”

“We won't tell them, then.” He knew it was stupid the moment it came out of his mouth.

She turned her head to him. 

“And what Queen would I be if I'm lying against their freedom under my rule?” her words were followed by a huff. She returned her head to the beyond. “It doesn’t matter. Your friend is aware and dislikes me enough to exploit it either way.”

“And he shouldn't. You were in war when that happened to his family. Please, Dany, I just need - ” 

This time, her whole body faced him; stood up to him, in fact. Still guarded like the crypts - not her usual Queen stature, but it still screamed at Jon to look at her. He did. 

“And we are in war again,” she stated sternly. Jon shifted on his feet, finding himself closer to her than before. “Cersei has the Throne, but she has not arrived yet. The dead are already here. This heritance is not what I vowed to fight; no matter how much I cannot help but think about everything I did, everything I went through to get to this - this  _ lie _ we have lived on…” Jon watched her carefully, mind reeling on how much  _ truth  _ this statement rested upon. What did they do for this curse? “It is not this battle. It is not this war. I vowed to fight for the North. Only when we survive this battle will I let myself act upon the Throne as I stated in that vow. I may not be the real ruler, but it is good to act as an honorable person nonetheless.” 

“What kind of King would I be if I did not want to rule?”

“The world does not work that way.”

And for a moment, the world was quiet. 

“I can't think this to be our last moment,” he admitted. Out of all they had put into loving each other. “Not in this state.”

“And I can't promise this won't be. But it doesn't matter if we ride into that battle on dragons or not, lovers or not.  When we are on that field, we are nothing but a man and woman, fighting for what they need to. There is nothing else we can think about.”

They were both dragons. Dragons in their blood, dragons in their temperatic movement. And then Jon, Jon was also a Stark. A wolf. Two sigils, two creatures - two things that needed to overtake his mind in the field below. Nothing but instinct.

Like she read his mind, Daenerys took one last look at him. “You are Aegon Targaryen, Jon Snow. Use the fire that has been kept in for so long.”

Before Jon could respond, before he could adjust to her final words to him, the air held nothing but that dreaded crunch of snow replacing any words left unsaid. He looked to where she had been not a second before as the whine of a horn sounded, and heavy beats of a dragon’s wings swooped over his head.

And then she was just a shadow against the sky.

**Author's Note:**

> here is to hoping the writers arent assholes.


End file.
